chapter four
by PersephonePandora23
Summary: Korra enters the Avatar State and Pema and Lin are in danger.


Korra's hands flung upwards and clutched her throbbing head. Scream after scream ripped through her lungs and spewed past her chattering teeth. A thin trail of blood trickled from her flushed nose and edged its way down her face.

"Get Oogi moving now!" Lin ordered. Swiftly, she released two of her metallic cords and secured the writhing Avatar. Pema remained horror stricken as Korra screeched horribly, challenging the wind's fearsome roar. Lin turned back to Pema, her eyes wild.

"PEMA!"

Shaken from her daze, Pema smacked the reigns violently, her delicate wrists cracking as loudly as the ropes.

"YIP YIP!" she screamed, her voice breaking into hysteric tears. The flying bison groaned but pushed itself further to its destination more quickly.

Korra struggled against her restraints. Her arms pushed against the tightening hold of Lin's metallic cords. The searing inferno in her mind continued to grow larger, and with each scream Korra felt it penetrate further into her skull. Korra wriggled endlessly; the cords dug fiercely into her clothes, ripping the several layers of fabric. Lin squeezed the binds harder. Her jaw tightened as she attempted to stabilize her footing on the icy saddle. Yet Korra began to slowly lift her arms, refusing the metal bender's defenses. Korra thrashed about, her voice echoing against the cries of the frozen tundra. Her eyes opened sharply; their blue image of tranquility was gone, the glowed hauntingly. The Avatar State consumed her rapidly. Lin eyes widened in horror as the wind around them turned from its natural course and circled madly around Korra. It lashed at the metal cords with unnatural gusts of wind, splitting the several metallic cords in two. Lin fell backwards, stunned. She fell onto an unsuspecting Pema, who jerked at the reigns in horror. Oogi bayed loudly causing the mountains of snow to tremble around them. Pem grasped madly at the reins, trying to regain control. Lin cluthed to the side of Oogi's saddle.

The flying bison dove lower into the barren valley of white. Pema tugged at the reins, but the unnatural winds pushed against Oogi. It turned desperately to the opposite direction, driven into a panic.

"PEMA!" Lin yelled.

Pema wrapped the leathery reigns around her hands and pulled ferociously. The muscles that strung around her guant frame, tensed and bulged from her arms.

"I'm trying!" Pema hissed through gritted teeth. The straps of leather chaffed her mannerly hands that were coaxed by years of domestic privilege. She moaned in pain but did not falter in her grasp on the reins. Lin shakily stood upwards and fell immediately into her defensive stance, her eyes dark and alert to every movement from Korra.

The previous screams died immediately in Korra's throat, silenced by the Avatar state. The wind lifted her from her seat and supported her hovering body. Her blank stare found Lin and a cowering Pema. Korra continued to stare wordlessly at the two; her expression blank and disconnected from humanity.

"Korra! Please. Stop this! We are your friends!" Pema begged, her eyes glistening from new found tears. Korra did not reply.

"Korra! Listen to me. You must snap out of this, I don't want to fight you…I don't want to hurt you!" Lin warned, her jaw set. Staring warily at the floating Avatar, she could hear Tenzin's whisper escalate to a screaming reminder in her ears. Closing her eyes for a moment, the conclusion became clear and Lin released her fury against the young Avatar without warning.

_Please….Lin. Keep them safe…no matter what…_

Korra deflected Lin's offensive maneuvers with ease.

"I am the Avatar." She said stiffly. Her voice spoke with the dry vocal accompaniment of all past Avatars. Without any anticipation, Korra raised her hand in a horrific display of graceful ease and metal bended the cords that were concealed underneath Lin's coats. The metal cords began to wist and knot together. Lin yelled in surprise as her uniform became a mangled metallic organism. It began to warp and wail metallic sounds of unrecognizable anguish. The sound attacked the ears relentlessly, and Pema grimaced in pain. Korra clenched her fist and the armor began to constrict itself around the flesh beneath it. Lin gasped as the air within her was savagely torn from her lungs and forced past her ashen lips.

"Please Korra! Stop it! STOP!" Pema wailed.

Lin's eyes bulged from her angular face as her own metal cords constricted her. She struggled to speak. Her hands twitched at her side. With a frantic hiccup, Lin summoned what remained:

"K—korra…." She whispered.

Her mouth slackened as did her body. Shallow breathes flowed past her mouth as her eyelids fluttered, desperately attempting to fight a battle of consciousness.

"P…please…"

"KORRA!" Pema yelled wildly. "STOP!"

Pema looked on in horror as the Avatar continued to suffocate Lin. Abandoning her iron grip on Oogi's reigns, Pema flung herself towards a tattered knap sack at Lin's feet. Lin suddenly dropped to her knees, her face turning an unnatural bluish shade. Pema fumbled with the tattered bag at Lin's feet. Korra paid no mind to Pema's shaky actions.

"You. Cannot hurt me." Korra spoke softly, yet her thunderous voice could be heard above the roar of the wind.

Suddenly Pema withdrew a rusted Equalist hand glove and lunges across between Lin and Korra. Before Korra can react properly, Pema's hand angrily collides with her body. Waves of electricity surge through her. Lin dropped to her hands and knees as her metal cords release their deadly grip. She gasped madly for air to resume its course in her lungs. Pema huddled close to Lin, flinging the glowing glove over Oogi's saddle. She stared at her own hands terrified at her deed. Korra laid in a heap of scorched clothes, unconscious and silent.

Pema wept silently into Lin's shoulder. Lin watched the slow rise and fall of Korra's chest. Her hands could not help but shake at the deceptive peacefulness that resided in Korra's features. She swallowed thickly and gazed in the direction of their destination.


End file.
